Two-thirds of mothers of children aged under three
employed

According to Statistics Finland's employment
statistics, the employment rate of mothers of children aged under
three was 66.4 per cent in 2011. In all, 89.1 per cent of
fathers of same-age children were working. The employment rate of
all persons aged 18 to 64 was 69.9 per cent in 2011.

Employment rate of persons aged 18 to 64 by sex,
family status and age of children

Parents of children of day care age most at work

In 2011, the employment rate of 18 to 64-year-old men with a
family was 79.8 per cent. Families are formed by married or
cohabiting couples and those in registered partnerships living
together and sin-gle parents with their children. Children living
in the same accommodation are counted in the family.

The employment rate was highest, 90.3 per cent, for those
men in whose family children were aged three to six. In all,
70.2 per cent of married or cohabiting men of families without
children were working. Regardless of the family status, the
employment rate of all men aged 18 to 64 was 69.0 per
cent.

The employment rate of all women aged 18 to 64 was slightly
higher than that of men: 70.9 per cent. Parenthood of families
with children lowers the employment rate of women especially among
those living alone with children aged under three: their employment
rate was 44.3 per cent.

The employment rate of married or cohabiting mothers of children
aged under three, 68.8 per cent, was, however, nearly as high
as that of women in the whole age group. Among women the
employ-ment rate was also highest for mothers of children aged
three to six: 80.7 per cent of them were at work.

Employment rate of men not belonging to a family low

The employment rate of men not belonging to a family,
57.6 per cent, was 22.2 percentage points lower than that of
men belonging to a family, 79.8 per cent. Among women the
difference was not as large: the employment rate of women with a
family was 12.3 percentage points higher than that of those
not belonging to a family.

Examined by age group, the difference between men belonging and
not belonging to a family was at its highest, at
24.4 percentage points, in the 40 to 49 age group, where
89.6 per cent of men with a family were working. Of men
without a family 65.2 per cent were working.

The employment rate of men not belonging to a family was
5.9 percentage points lower than that of women not belonging
to a family. The difference was largest, 10.9 percentage
points, in the over 50 and older age groups: 56.5 per cent of women
of this age not belonging to a family were working, while men's
employment rate was 45.5 per cent.

Employment rate of those not belonging to a family
in 2011 by age and sex

The economic crisis earlier and more deeply visible in men's
employment

The employment rate of both women belonging and not belonging to
a family has risen from 2006 to 2011. The employment rate of women
with a family went up by 2.4 percentage points and that of
women without a family by 0.8 percentage points.

The employment rates of both men with and without a family were
in contrast lower in 2011 than in 2006. In 2011, the employment
rate of men with a family was 0.8 percentage points lower than
in 2006. The fall in the employment rate of men not belonging to a
family was 1.6 percentage points between 2006 and 2011.

The employment effects of the economic crisis started to be
visible in men's employment rate already in 2008, when the
employment rate of men with a family went down by 0.9 percentage
points and that of men without a family by 1.0 percentage points
compared with 2007. In 2009, the employment rate fell in both
groups of men: for those with a family by 3.3 percentage points and
for those without a family by 4.5 percentage points.

The economic crisis could be seen as a temporary dip in women's
employment in 2009, when the employment rate of women with a family
went down by 1.4 percentage points and that of women without a
family by 2.1 per cent. The employment rates of all groups
have risen in 2010 and 2011.

Employment rate of persons aged 18 to 64 by family
status and sex in 2006–2011